ZAGREB, Dec 2 (Hina) - Croatia should be united when it comes to issues concerning the European Union, it should find an ally country which will lobby for it, and strengthen relations with the media so that it could be invited to join
the EU in 2007, Otto von Habsburg, a former European Parliament member, said in Zagreb on Monday.
ZAGREB, Dec 2 (Hina) - Croatia should be united when it comes to
issues concerning the European Union, it should find an ally
country which will lobby for it, and strengthen relations with the
media so that it could be invited to join the EU in 2007, Otto von
Habsburg, a former European Parliament member, said in Zagreb on
Monday. #L#
"A dynamic action is necessary and something has to be done soon
because Croatia no longer has time. It has not entered the circle of
countries which will join the EU in 2004, but it should actively
work on being invited along with Rumania and Bulgaria in 2007," said
Habsburg while he was a guest at today's session of the Croatian
parliament's Committee for Foreign Affairs, at the invitation of
the committee's chairman, Zdravko Tomac.
"If Croatia does not manage to do this, it will be waiting for entry
into the EU for at least ten years," he said.
Croatia should find an influential country in the EU and which will
have interest in Croatia, and as such, lobby for it, he said.
"Croatia is in a very difficult situation and it is now necessary to
intensify relations with the public to create a positive image of
Croatia," von Habsburg said.
He said that there were forces which had been working against
Croatia, and by constantly placing it in the context of the western
Balkans, they wanted to see Croatia joining some kind of former
Yugoslavia.
Speaking about a systematic war against Croatia, von Habsburg said
"mistakes of some countries are constantly being pointed out, while
mistakes of some others are never mentioned."
A member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Ivo Sanader, said the
Croatian public had a broad consensus on the fact that the path to
the EU was the only path for Croatia. Other committee members
agreed.
Sanader suggested that the parliament adopt a resolution by which
it would request of the government to submit an application to enter
the EU in 2007 together with Rumania and Bulgaria. Other committee
members supported this suggestion.
(hina) lml sb